Nelson nails landslide victory in race for 57th House seat

Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh Area) ^ | 16 March 2016 | RICH CHOLODOFSKY

[Vigilanteman]

Republican Eric Nelson, in a landslide victory, won a special election Tuesday for the state House seat left open by the departure of Tim Krieger, keeping the seat under GOP control.

With all 51 precincts reporting, Nelson received 66 percent of the vote. Democrat Linda Iezzi got 34 percent.

Nelson, 50, a businessman and college instructor, is expected to take office once the results are verified by the county's election bureau. He will serve through Dec. 31 to complete the two-year term that was vacated when Krieger, a Delmont Republican, was elected a Westmoreland County judge.

. . .

Nelson, a retired Marine, campaigned against proposals by Gov. Tom Wolf to increase taxes and state spending. He favored a plan to sell off the state's liquor stores and advocated for pension reform.

[Vigilanteman]

For those of you outside of SW Pennsylvania, this was a needless special election which could have been held in conjunction with the regular state primary on April 26.

However, Governor Tom Wolf (who thinks he is Obama) is having a showdown with the state legislature who is standing in the way of his desire to raise taxes.

This election was called by him as a way of demonstrating his supposed popularity over the legislature. The Democrats had owned this district since the time it was formed in the 1960s until 2008, when the blue collar base was reacting to Obama's probable election.

They ran a very reasonable and well-known moderate candidate in hopes of regaining control and letting Wolf have the momentum back for his agenda. She tried very hard to distance herself from the governor and avoid even mentioning her party affiliation.

We now see how that worked out.

[Mr Apple]

Republican Eric Nelson, in a landslide victory, won a special election Tuesday for the state House seat...

Superb!

[Not A Snowbird]

Linda Lezzi? That’s really her name?

[notdownwidems]

Linda Lezzi? That’s really her name?

I think that's pronounced 'I-easy'!

[Vigilanteman]

Yep, it really is. Our area is full of Italians. One borough of 4,000 people has no less than seven pizza shops.

Lezzi's hometown of South Greensburg still has an AMS Club, a society formed just over a century ago to assist Italian immigrants.

[Dstorm]

Iezzi

http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/7701433-74/iezzi-county-westmoreland

[knarf]

Is There A Replacement For Toomey ? ? ?

[shotgun]

I don’t know anything about that but out here in Washington State the people rose up to privatize liquor sales and get rid of the State owned and operated liquor stores. Even the sales clerks were State employees. The only thing that changed was you can now buy booze at any store but the prices remained the same which caught everyone dumb enough to believe the hype, and to stupid to read the legislation, by surprise. This was a major push and financial backing of Costco to change the law.

[Vigilanteman]

FWIW, I actually favor keeping our State Run Liquor Store system. Not because it makes any sense at all, but because it makes such a great poster child for state operated businesses. It is fun to see the Democrats and unionists forced to defend them and a sure GOP vote getter.

The GOP legislature is actually smart to keep bringing it up and then backing down.

[SueRae]

Thanks for that news as I was not familiar with that. But I am loving it. Wish we could recall Wolf. I can’t believe so many morons voted for him.

[WakeUpAndVote]

But, think about joepa!

[fieldmarshaldj]

The moron was Corbett, who refused to step aside and allow another Republican to be nominated in his place. Any other Republican would’ve easily dispatched Wolf.

[fortheDeclaration]

Good news indeed!

[StoneWall Brigade]

Ping

[AuH2ORepublican]

Good news.

What’s the GOP’s majority in the state house and in the state senate?

[Vigilanteman]

119-84 in the Assembly (House) and 31-19 in the Senate.

Caveat is that many of those are from the Philadelphia suburban area and squishy soft on conservative issues.

[Mr Apple]

Is There A Replacement For Toomey ? ? ?

lol

[AuH2ORepublican]

Thanks. It’s bigger than I remembered.

[Vigilanteman]

The GOP majority actually increased in both houses in 2014, the same election where Tommy the Commie won the governor's office. It shows you just how schizo this Commonwealth can be.

[Mr Apple]

And I’d like to see Gene Greene retire/get out.